Deal #10322

Adivasis were bonded laborers long after the official abolishment of slavery in the 19th century. This historical context frames the current experience for adivasis in Kerala. While they make up only 11% of Kerala’s population, scheduled castes and Adivasis represent 30.33% of the poor, with the majority being landless (Bedi 2019:184).

The Adivasi families living in the area without land titles are not legally entitled to receive compensation for lost land (Bedi 2019:186).

Originally slated to be a 200 MW project, the Kasaragod solar park only generates 50 MW of power. Some Adivasi residents without legal land titles lost their lands and livelihoods to make way for the contiguous solar park, which fueled local political opposition and thwarted the park’s expansion (Bedi, 2022:1152f.). In Kerala, local Panchayat (local governance bodies) and citizen political dissent blocked the full-scale 200 MW Kasaragod solar park, which significantly reduced the overall land available for the initiative. The inability of the state government to secure adequate land for the larger solar project reduced the park to 50 MW and led the central government to rescind project subsidies and to halt the associated green corridor electricity infrastructure (Bedi 2019:184f.).

Among stakeholders in and around the solar site there is a general sense that the solar park disrupted their connectivity to neighboring villages and common social areas, and reduced access to water sources. In creating new boundaries and destroying previous roads to connect villages, the new project ultimately silenced the communal landscape and unmade everyday resource access (Bedi 2019:186). Acquired land for the park and associated infrastructure bifurcated villages and reduced agricultural fields for residents (Bedi 2023:1153).

community hall, rehabilitation package to those who would give land for the project (Bedi 2019:187)